Globally, ICT solutions are responsible for between 4% and 10% of global annual electricity consumption and between 3% and 5% of greenhouse emissions (Ministry of Transport and Communications: Climate and Environmental Strategy for the ICT Sector, 2021). However, with the right actions, the carbon footprint of a single ICT service can be reduced by up to 90 per cent. TIEKE, TIVIA and LUT University are running the Green ICT project between 2021 and 2023. In the project, we accelerate the development and adoption of low-carbon digital services in the Helsinki-Uusimaa region of Finland.
The project is funded by the European Union structural fund coordinated by the Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council. The funding has been provided to the project partners from the EU-REACT-call, as part of the recovery measures adopted to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
How the project promotes climate conscious ICT know-how
The project is divided into accelerating green ICT in private digital service providers and promoting carbon neutral procurement know-how in the both the private and the public sector.
Ways of working in the Green ICT project and upcoming publications:
- Launching the operations of a Green ICT ecosystem in Finland.
- Webinars and online meetings focusing on different aspects of climate and environmentally friendly digitalisation, from choosing a data centre to optimisation of code.
- Workshops on acknowledging carbon neutrality in product development and sales.
- A buyer’s guide to green ICT procurements.
- A seller’s guide to climate conscious ICT services and a self-assessment tool for organisations.
- Mapping out a scalability plan for the project.
2021: webinars and surveying the focus group
During the first 6 months of the project, we offered informational webinars on Green ICT on topics such as green procurement, software development, product design and communicating genuinely sustainable ICT ventures. We also collected data on the sustainable ICT know-how and applications of 40 local service-building and providing companies and ICT buyers.
In 2021, we reached around 450 organisations through our webinar participants and survey respondents.
2022: building an ecosystem
In 2022, the Green ICT project focuses especially on devising and establishing a Green ICT innovation ecosystem. The digital ecosystem will bring together everyone interested in using or producing climate-conscious and environmentally friendly ICT. If you want to learn more about this work, please join our LinkedIn group or contact project manager Antti Sipilä.
Long-term objectives of the Green ICT project
- A significant amount of businesses alter their digital service portfolio and/or procurement practices towards a Green ICT approach.
- A significant amount of businesses have taken steps in international operations in either Green ICT sales, funding or project collaborations.
- The transition to Green ICT solutions leads to a notable decrease in carbon emissions and new jobs are created.
- Acquiring Green ICT solutions becomes more commonplace, a growing selection affects the consumer market as well.
Green ICT project
The project A Green ICT ecosystem – building sustainability and competitiveness for businesses in the Uusimaa region is funded by the REACT-EU-call from the European structural fund. Funding has been granted as part of EU recovery measures to lessen the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Funding period
1. June 2021 to 31. May 2023
Project contacts
TIEKE: Antti Sipilä, antti.sipila[at]tieke.fi
LUT-university: Jari Porras, jari.porras[at]lut.fi
TIVIA: Janne Mustonen, janne.mustonen[at]tivia.fi
